1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a tilt angle maintaining apparatus for maintaining a tilt angle of a tilt section which is provided on a device body in a tilting manner, and to a recording apparatus such as a facsimile or a printer on which the tilt angle maintaining apparatus is provided.
2. Related Art
In an electronic device, an information display section (for example, which is configured to include a liquid crystal display unit and the like) for displaying a variety of information and an operation setting section provided with operation buttons and a power button for performing various operation settings are provided on a tilt panel. The tilt panel can be maintained to form an arbitrary angle so that a user can easily visually identify information or set the operations via a tilt angle maintaining mechanism.
In this tilt angle maintaining mechanism, for example, a ratchet mechanism as described in JP-A-2001-111245 and in JP-A-11-339125, that is, saw-shaped teeth are provided on a main body, and an engaging end for engaging with the saw-shaped teeth is provided on the tilt section. The tilt angle maintaining mechanism is configured to stepwise maintain a predetermined tilt angle by engaging the saw-shaped teeth and the engaging end.
In the known tilt angle maintaining mechanism as described above, even when external force is applied to the tilt section, the tilt angle is reliably maintained at a predetermined angle without any change. However, on the other hand, when the tilt angle maintaining mechanism is returned to its original position from the state of being maintained at an arbitrary angle, it is necessary to maintain the state in which the engaging end is separated from the saw-shaped teeth. Since the engaging end is provided on a rear surface side of the tilt section, operability for returning the tilt section to the original angle is bad, and the operations become complicated.